The invention relates to a process for producing packaging blanks and for delivering them to a packaging machine, especially for the manufacture of hinge-lid packs from (thin) cardboard or the like, the blanks being formed as a result of the punching of packaging material.
In the production of packs from thin packaging material, such as paper, the packaging material is supplied to the packaging machine as a wound web of material (reel). In the packaging machine, the web of material is drawn off from the reel and divided by means of severing knives into blanks which are then folded to form the pack.
When packaging material of higher rigidity is concerned, for example in packs made of cardboard, blanks are prefabricated at the factory by being punched from sheets of material (sheet stock), delivered in stacks and introduced in this form into the packaging machine. This is equipped with a blank-magazine for receiving the stacked blanks and for the extraction of these in succession. Particularly packaging machines for producing hinge-lid packs to receive cigarettes, etc. operate in this way.
The prefabrication of the blanks in separate production shops and the transport and handling of the stack of blanks is complicated and involves a high outlay. Furthermore, for reasons of space, the receiving capactiy of a blank-magazine of a packaging machine for stacks of blanks is limited.